Paul Ryan got confused when he visited the Cleveland’s practice Wednesday. Forgive him, the Browns have that effect on people.

Ryan mixed up the quarterbacks when he showed up to campaign for the Ohio football vote. That’s not nearly as bad as Mike Holmgren getting fooled into thinking he was a general manager.

At least that mistake was rectified Wednesday. The Browns' new owner started housecleaning, and the first person to go was Holmgren.

He’s retiring as CEO at the end of the season. Though a lot of Cleveland fans think Holmgren retired years ago and has just been cashing checks since.

That’s not quite accurate, but Holmgren’s career trajectory certainly confirms he was better on the sideline than the front office.

Holmgren’s 161-111 record and two Super Bowl appearances make him a borderline Hall of Fame coach. His .263 winning percentage in Cleveland make a typical candidate for Cleveland’s Hall of Fame.

Look, it’s Cleveland, the Pompeii of American sports. The Browns could have imported Green Bay’s entire front office in 2010 and it wouldn't have helped keep LeBron, much less made the Browns competitive.

Owner Randy Lerner probably had the Packers on his mind when he hired Holmgren. That’s where the coaching reputation was forged. Holmgren provided the Xs and Os. General Manager Ron Wolf provided Brett Favre and Reggie White.

Winning a Super Bowl gave Holmgren enough clout to cut his own deal in Seattle. He went to the playoffs six times in 10 years, but it was largely a case of good coaching overcoming bad managing.

Holmgren drafted first-rounders like Koren Robinson, Lamar King, Marcus Tubbs and Jerramy Stevens. He slowly relinquished general-manger duties, but for some reason, Holmgren never stopped seeing himself as a front office Svengali.

Neither did Lerner, who was more interested in gallivanting off to England to look after his Aston Villa soccer team. Likewise, Holmgren never really left Seattle.

He kept a house there and never became part of the Cleveland community. Since misery loves company, that means even more in Cleveland than most cities. Fans are committed, and they want the same from the teams they cheer for.

Failing that, they’ll settle for a decent quarterback.

Since returning in 1999, the Browns have had 17 of them. They range from Tim Couch to Spergon Wynn to Trent Dilfer to Brady Quinn to Seneca Wallace to Colt McCoy.

Or is that last one Brandon Weeden?

Ryan got them mixed up, but neither will be confused for Robert Griffin III. Cleveland could have had him, but Holmgren didn’t want to pay what St. Louis was asking for the No. 2 overall pick.

The Redskins did, and they aren’t regretting it. Holmgren always was keen on Weeden. The 29-year-old rookie has promise, but RGIII looks like he’ll be ready for the Hall of Fame by the time he’s 29.

It’s just more second-guess fodder in Cleveland. Holmgren kept Eric Mangini for a wasted year. He brought in Pat Shurmur, who has five wins in two years.

The best move was hiring Tom Heckert as GM. He’s signed young talents like Josh Gordon, Joe Haden, Phil Taylor and Trent Richardson. But with Heckert handling those duties, what purpose did Holmgren serve?

Mainly he stood in for Lerner as the owner followed Premiere League standings. Not bad duty for $8 million a year. Cleveland’s new owner isn’t into soccer.